Most Asthma Drugs Safe to Use During Pregnancy

Most asthma drugs can be used during pregnancy without raising the risk of adverse birth outcomes, new research suggests.

Most asthma drugs can be used during pregnancy without raising the risk of adverse birth outcomes, new research suggests. The exception is steroid pills, such as prednisone, which may increase the risk of preterm delivery. Still, in terms of the effect on pregnancy, achieving asthma control, even if it means using such pills, is probably preferable to having uncontrolled disease. Doctors “generally try other agents first before using oral steroids, so I don’t think our findings will change practice in that regard,” lead author Dr. Michael Schatz, from Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center in San Diego, California, told Reuters Health. “The bigger impact of the study will be to provide reassurance that the other asthma medications” can be safely used during pregnancy, he said. The findings, which appear in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, stem from a study of 2123 asthmatic women logged in a national database between December 1994 and February 2000. Treatment with inhaled beta-agonists, such as Proventil, inhaled steroids, like Pulmicort, or Theo-Dur was not associated with adverse birth outcomes. Use of steroid pills, by contrast, raised the risk of preterm birth by 54 percent and the risk of low birth weight by 80 percent. Commenting on the apparent link between oral steroids and prematurity, Schatz said it’s possible that it is not really a drug effect, but rather a reflection of disease severity. “As much as we try to control for disease severity, we still can’t conclude that oral steroid use actually caused these outcomes.” (Source: Reuters Health, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, June 2004)